Win Tickets To See Ben Folds and a Piano, Thursday May 13th!

Ben Folds @ The Wiltern 11/14/08, Photo by Jodi

I’m not sure if you get as giddy as I do when I hear that Ben Folds is coming to town. I’ve been hooked on his live performances since his first L.A. show at the Roxy in October 1995 with his former band, Ben Folds Five (they opened for Heather Nova). It’s a real treat when he comes to the West Coast, where he has a pretty decent fan base. He often plays two shows and yes, I usually go to both. I never know when he’ll make it back to this side of the country.

This is an exciting week because Ben Folds is playing two nights, May 12th and 13th at The Music Box @ Fonda in Hollywood. While he often performs with a backing band, this tour is just him and a piano, along with special guest Australian singer-songwriter Kate Heidke-Miller. We have a pair of tickets to give away to the show on Thursday, May 13th. Leave a comment telling me a favorite Ben Folds song (solo or otherwise) that you’d love to hear live. I will be notifying the winner by email late Wednesday night.

The missus and I are getting older now, Jodi, and we don’t often get out. But if you were to gift us with these great Ben Folds tickets, I would love to hear my favorite Folds composition… “Bitch Went Nuts,” which my wife and I hold dear, as the lyrics say much about our own relationship.

“Bitch went nuts
She stabbed my basketball
and the speakers on my stereo
Bitch went nuts
She Photoshopped my face
onto every boy who done her wrong”

I’m partial to “Best Imitation of Myself,” especially the line about losing my southern accent! I never took a class, but every time someone out here asks my why I don’t have an accent I think about this song…

There are so many great choices that I would probably answer differently each and every hour of the day depending on my mood. Right now, i’m going to go with Selfless, Cold, And Composed. That song got me through some hard times. I love the 6/8 feel of it.
“come on baby just throw me one right to the chin, don’t just stare like you never cared, I know you did.”

For a time, I lived the story of “Landed,” complete with cross-country move. That song made me feel like I wasn’t alone, and maybe I wasn’t the only crazy person who fought for a bad relationship for longer than I should have. Life is better now, and while it’s melancholy, I’d dearly love to hear “Landed” live, just as a reminder of where I’ve been.